By MARK LORENZANA A shootout on Saturday, July 23, in the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, has left at least three people injured, according to local reports. Surveillance cameras at a hotel captured the moment of the shooting, which caused tourists traversing Fifth Avenue — a popular street in Playa del Carmen filled with souvenir shops, restaurants
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By KELIN DILLON Mexico’s heightened military presence on its southern border with Guatemala has resulted in a 79 percent increase in arrests of undocumented Central American migrants since its new patrol policy went into effect on June 21, said Mexican Secretary of Defense Luis Cresencio Sandoval. According to Sandoval, border patrols have increased in the region since June 21, as
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By MARK LORENZANA The public-security strategy of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is facing a possible review in the Mexican Senate, and the opposition bloc is demanding changes in the fight against organized crime, chief among them strengthening the state police and creating a professional civilian body in charge of public security. Damián Zepeda, a senator from the conservative National
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By MARK LORENZANA Pope Francis on Wednesday, June 22, condemned the murders of two Jesuit priests in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, who were gunned down on Monday, June 20, along with a local tour guide inside a church in the municipality of Urique. “So many killings in Mexico,” Francis said at the end of his general audience, attended
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By MARK LORENZANA A group of hooded and masked men in bulletproof vests and armed with high-caliber firearms were caught on camera by terrified residents on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 14, in San Cristóbal de las Casas, a town located in the central highlands region of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. The group, whose members call themselves “Los
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PULSE NEWS MEXICO In yet another step toward the full militarization of the country (the Army and National Guard are already overseeing more than 30 activities that were, just three years ago, considered the sole domain of civil authorities), Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) announced on Tuesday, June 7, that the country’s Navy (Semar) has now taken full
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OPINION By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS Over the weekend, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) paid a visit to the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, home of infamous drug lord and founder of the Sinaloa Cartel Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, currently in a U.S. high-security prison on 17 counts of homicide, drug trafficking, conspiracy, organized crime against health, money laundering, homicide and
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OPINION By RICARDO CASTILLO The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is back in the news now that U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar announced last week a potential $500 billion investment in the new transoceanic project to link up Salina Cruz in the Pacific with the Coatzacoalcos port in the Gulf of Mexico. Hazy as Salazar’s financial plan may be for now,
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OPINION By RICARDO CASTILLO For four Mexican opposition political parties, it is the lull before the storm, scheduled for Sunday, June 5, when elections for governor will be held in six states. For sure the leaders of those parties are keeping up the competitive spirit, claiming the candidates they support will come out victors, a hope contenders claim is wishful
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By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF As Mexico seeks to deploy operational military units to the Western state of Michoacán, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) has blocked Mexican military personnel from entering the area in its quest to maintain control over the Michoacán region, one of the main centers of Mexican cartels’ methamphetamine-producing laboratories that the groups later traffic
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